The meanderings of a newish mom and other randomness

Beauty

In my quest to better understand and care for babygirl’s natural hair I did something I never thought I would do, watch YouTube tutorials!!!!! Not that I’ve ever had anything against YouTube tutorials, my sis’zin Erica who also happens to be my natural hair goddess and my sissy Kay swear by said hair tutorials as well as my sissy Shante who has picked up some pretty dope makeup tips from YouTube tutorials, it’s just that I couldn’t figure out where would you begin. Well it’s begun and I don’t know how to stop. It’s like an information super highway and like a kid in a candy store I wanna try everything now (in my best Veruca Salt voice). I came across a vlog that brags diy hair treatments with common items that most people have in their homes or can easily find in a store, from my previous posts you know that convenience in finding ingredients for cooking and now for hair treatments are very important to me so that’s kind of a big deal for me.

My first experiment was a deep conditioner which ingredients were as easy as they come, one whole avocado and extra virgin olive oil. That’s it! Note to readers: Moscato is not one of the ingredients. Extra note to readers get a ripe fairly soft avocado as it’s easier to “mash and mush”.

Where I went wrong is confusing this mix for something to eat instead of something to put in your hair and so I didn’t use a mixer to get it to a creamy texture. I kept thinking guacamole (fat girl problems). So with me mixing by hand instead of using a hand mixer (yes party people there is a difference lol) my mixture looked a lil something like guacamole.

I thought it was pretty creamy and good to go (again remember I’m thinking guacomole not conditioner) in retrospect I wish I would have used a hand mixer except I don’t own one of those. So I proceeded to apply to her hair root to tip chunks and all and put a cap on. The instructions said to leave on for 45 minutes to an hour.

Typically after a wash and conditioner babygirl’s hair shrinks and is so dry looking that it looks matted but after the avocado/evoo deep conditioner her hair shrinkage was only half of what it usually is and looked very shiny and hydrated, I mean hydrated to the point that I could see water beads lingering in her hair after it was all rinsed out. Even Mr. Grumps notified the difference.

I then followed up with the LOC method and styled her hair.

That shine tho!

The majority of the tutorials and vlogs that I viewed mentioned not to expect results the first time you try styling methods and products on your hair which isn’t a problem for me because I’m skeptical. But I must admit that the first time was a charm with this diy deep conditioner and I will be using this deep conditioner on a monthly basis (with a hand mixer of course).

Do you ever view YouTube tutorials and if so are they helpful to you? What are some of your go to hair treatments and methods?

No worries….I got this!

Advertisements

Share this:

Like this:

Stress is wreaking all sorts of havoc on my skin. I’ve been fortunate enough in my 36 years on planet earth to not suffer from any sort of acne, pimples or breakouts and I’ll be got damned if I start now. I’ve been in the market for some sort of mask that will help detoxify and jumpstart operation fresh face and after doing some online research I’m really tempted to try that new mask called Glam Glow but as quickly as I talk myself into trying it I think about the amount of groceries I can get with the cost of Glam Glow (I’ve seen it retail from $50-$70) and well let’s just say I ain’t about that life. I’ve even found a couple of diy facials that interest me but they call for ingredients I’m not really interested in searching high and low for.

While shopping in CVS today this sample mask caught my eye. I was intrigued mostly because I don’t have to invest in a whole tub of it only to try it and not like it and also because it features ingredients I was researching in the diy recipes. Oatmeal to help heal blemishes and damaged skin and avocado to deep clean and moisturize my skin and the clay of course that gets deep down in the pores and also gives your face a mini lift.

The package didn’t say how long to keep the mask on but I planned to leave it on for 30 minutes while I finished up on housework. The packaging was easy to open and not messy at all and the mask was super easy to apply. When I applied there was a couple of minutes of tingling that at first made me nervous but then it stopped so I took it as being a sign that it was working. Of course I took advantage of the mask and walked around the house attempting to scare babygirl, epic fail, she didn’t blink. Mr. Grumps on the other hand got the living bejesus scared out of him. The timing didn’t go down as planned and I ended up falling asleep for a couple hours.

Fast forward to the unveiling, the mask washed off with crazy ease which I appreciate, I’ve tried masks that you basically have to rub your skin damn near raw to get off so that’s a plus. My skin looked a little brighter and it didn’t sting which is a big deal for me because my skin is super sensitive. MOST importantly since I got my nose pierced a couple of months back I have to be very gentle and careful not to disrupt the piercing when I wash my face, so I haven’t been able to scrub the way I like to which has caused a serious black head issue on my nose. I tried the garnier blackhead face wash with charcoal and the nivea blackhead face wash and let’s just say both have since been added to my pile of “shit that doesn’t work” but this mask singlehandedly and wholeheartedly tackled my blackhead issue and it is no more, like gone, like blackhead who, gone. No scrubbing necessary. I realized now that I should have taken before and after pictures. I will update a little later.

So if you were to ask me if I’d try Beauty 360 Oatmeal & Avocado Face Mask again, I’d say hell yeah. If you asked me if I would refer or suggest it to a friend, I’d say I think I already have.

Like this:

Since I had to get a manicure a week sooner than I expected (Just Gel Polish experience) this week will be a gel break week (haha that sounds like jail break if you say it fast) especially since I noticed that a layer of my nail bed came off when I peeled off my last gel manicure. I walked in the salon with intentions of getting just a clear top coat but this color was calling my name, I think it’s an old color because I had a hard time finding it on the website but saw that it can be purchased on off sites like beauty.com. Just consider this a gel break week with a little umph!

Like this:

Welp here I am a week later posting about my latest experience with a gel manicure. I’ve got 2 words for you no bueno. So far I’ve tried the Perfect Match gel polish brand and the Just Gel Polish brand with an accent finger in the Gelaxy brand. Now the gel manicures promise to last up to 14 days but I know for me that’s probably unrealistic as I seem to spend more time than I’d like with my hands in water (also I’m a mild germophob sooooo there’s that). My mission is to find the gel polish with the nicest colors that’s lasts the longest for me. Perfect Match was pretty good, I had a good 8-9 day run with a flawless manicure and on their website that have some fall/winter colors that I’m excited to try.

Just Gel Polish brand however I’m totally disappointed by, I got my nails done on Thursday and by the following Tuesday they were peeling off. Before I was able to just peel it off it started to lift at the tips of my nails allowing dirt to get under them which made for gross looking nails and led me to just pull the shit off (excuse my french), I was completely over it! Not my idea of a good time that’s for sure. Needless to say although they offer super cute color options I won’t be giving Just Gel Polish another go round. Ain’t nobody got time for that!

Like this:

I expressed in one of my previous posts OPI: You Are So Outta Lime that a lot of Essie’s and OPI’s summer neon colors need at least 3 coats to look like something and since then my frustration has grown. I gave up the fun, bright in the bottle neon and moved on to the pale almost white looking colors. I’ve always loved white nail polish but with my complexion it gets tricky and can sometimes look like I painted my nails with White Out (do people still use white out?).

This is my second time going to the salon in my neighborhood aka the hood salon and using this color. I liked it so much that I’ve been searching for it in Target, Walgreen, Duane Reade and beauty supply stores to buy it (you know I really love a polish when I purchase it) and I kept lucking out. Last week I went back to the salon and used the same color again, I even told the technician how much I loved the color and how I was having a really hard time finding it. She said I may be having such a hard time because it’s an older color and the stores usually sell the most recent collections. Viable explanation right? Wrong. As I’m sitting here on the Essie website looking for an image of the color I thought was “Nice is Nice” I see that the actual Nice is Nice looks nothing like what is on my nails. Nice is Nice is lilac and this color is a pale, faint green. My trust has been breached. I’ve been bamboozled, run amok, led astray. I wish I could quit this salon but they do really good pedicures. I feel so vulnerable at this moment. I don’t know what’s worse that they have a custom color in an Essie bottle or that the technician gave me a straight-faced lie that was so believable.

I digress. Anywho, let’s not deviate from the topic at hand. I will not let the deceitfulness of the salon take away the fact that it’s a really cute color on me and that I love it so.

Like this:

After a month of my nails going through a chipping like crazy phase and not growing as quickly as they usually do, I decided to give my nails a break (no pun intended). Instead of getting a manicure with a new color every week I’ve been alternating with color and just top coat. I take it the break agreed with me as my nails are back to tiptop conditions.

I’m especially loving the many fun shades of purples and blues nail collections have to offer this summer. Last week I chose Essie’s “In the Cab-ana” and broke up some of the blue with Essie’s “Luxeffects Set in Stone”.